My New Best Friend

by Julie Bowe

  We're here to share some made-up news

  And offer no apology

  For this friendly mythology.

  Everyone applauds. Stacey walks over to where I'm standing.

  "That was great," I say. "I didn't know you wrote a poem for the program."

  "I wrote it this weekend at my dad's," Stacey says. "Tanya even helped me. Then Kelli called Mr. Crow this afternoon to see if I could read it."

  Randi and Rusty bump past me as they head into the studio.

  "Watch where you're going," Jenna barks from behind me. "You almost dented Ida's box."

  Randi and Rusty turn around. Six eyes look back at us—four regular and two googly.

  "Sorry, Ida," Randi says. "We didn't see you."

  "Yeah," Rusty says, pointing to his forehead. "My eye isn't what it used to be."

  They both crack up, head on stage, and start telling jokes.

  "What did the boy cyclops say to the girl cyclops?"

  "You're the apple of my eye!"

  "What do you call a cyclops who wears glasses?"

  "Two-eyes!"

  "What do you call a cyclops pirate?"

  "Man overboard!"

  "When do cyclops friends fight?"

  "When they don't see eye to eye!"

  Randi and Rusty tell a few more jokes, peel off their googly eyes, and take a bow.

  Tom takes the stage. Actually, he shoots across it. On rollerblades. He's wearing a box that's painted like a golden chariot. ATOMO is written on the sides. Zane, Dominic, and the Dylans are pulling him along. They're wearing basketball jerseys and bridles—a team of horses. Get it?

  I smile as Tom zigzags across the floor because it's funny and because it's nice to know I'm not the only one wearing a box.

  After Brooke and Meeka spell out A-P-H-R-O-D-I-T-E and A-T-H-E-N-A using only their body parts, Mr. Crow gives me a sign. Jenna gives me a nudge. "Go on, Ida," she says. "We're next."

  I gulp and walk to the center of the studio. I glance around at all the smiling faces.

  "This is the myth of how Gaia, goddess of the Earth, saved baby Zeus from being eaten by his father." I bite my lip, trying to remember what else Jenna told me to say. "Starring the Do-Good Nymphs. With a special appearance by Rachel Drews as baby Zeus."

  I glance at Jenna. She gives me a nod.

  Miss Woo starts the music and Randi gallops up to me. She pulls three Kens and two Barbies from a plastic bag. They're wearing toilet paper togas.

  I glance at Rachel and see her smile.

  Randi fake-swallows the dolls. Then she pulls Rachel's stuffed poodle and a rock out of the bag and shows them to the audience. The poodle is wearing a sticky note with goat printed on it. The rock is wearing one that says rock. She fake-swallows them, too.

  Jolene rolls a basketball across the floor. Randi stuffs it under her spaceship toga. She staggers around, holding her stomach.

  Jenna dances out with Rachel and the nymphs. Rachel stops and waves to Mr. and Mrs. Drews even though it's not part of the dance. Nobody seems to care. The nymphs help Jenna hide Rachel inside my box with me. It's cozy, but we fit.

  A moment later, Rachel crawls back out, picks up her lightning bolt, and gives Randi a whack in the stomach. Randi coughs up the rock and the poodle.

  "Barf-O-Rama!" Rusty shouts.

  Everyone laughs.

  Rachel gives Randi another whack and she coughs up the dolls, togas and all.

  Randi falls to the floor. Rachel takes a bow. So do Jenna, Brooke, Meeka, Jolene, and Stacey. I toss off my box and take one, too.

  Everyone claps like thunder.

  Mr. crow steps forward. "We have one last presentation," he says and gives Quinn a nod.

  Quinn carries in a horse hanging from a long pole. Joey and Dominic whack it with wooden swords. When it finally splits open, a hundred plastic army guys spill out.

  But that's not all.

  Candy spills out, too.

  Tons of it.

  Everyone dives in.

  A minute later, Randi jumps up holding a fistful of Choco-chunks in each hand. "Sweet!" she shouts.

  I smile because I couldn't agree more.

  * * *

  Epilogue

  Now that Greek Day is over, I have some new things to be thankful for.

  • Mr. Crow started reading a new book to our class called Black Beauty. It's a story about a horse. Actually, it's a story told by a horse. No lie. When Mr. Crow is done reading it, he's taking all of us horseback riding. He says it will be a lot of fun, but if my horse starts talking to me, I'm out of there.

  • Mr. Crow also got around to remembering the math quiz we never took. Normally, that wouldn't make me thankful, but I actually did pretty good.

  • Me and Stacey asked Mrs. Madson if we could alphabetize her music and she said okay. It took us three recesses.

  • The next time Miss Woo starts a new dance class, I might want to join. Even though I'm still not crazy about tights.

  • Stacey came up with a new club for all of us—The Lucky Seven. We're not nymphs anymore. We're horses. The pigpen is our corral. Plus, Jenna decided we should take turns being the club wrangler, which is horse talk for leader. I got to be wrangler first because I donated a lucky horseshoe to the club. We don't actually believe the horseshoe is lucky. Okay, maybe we do a tiny bit, but it's not like we're building it a shrine or anything.

  When I got the lucky horseshoe out of my attic, I got the mermaid, too. Now she's sitting on my desk, right next to a book my parents gave me called All About Greek Myths.

  The mermaid reminds me that spooky night-lights can have a lot of power, but they don't get it from an outlet.

  And the book reminds me that made-up stories can have a lot of power, too. Especially when they get imagined by best friends.

  * * *